Unit shingle



Jul 8 1924.

1,500,568 H ABRAHAM UNIT SHINGLE Filed March 23 1922 al "IIIUI' avwemtoz f/erer? Abraham t at.

HERBERT ABRAHAM, 0'! NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE'RUBEROID COMPANY, A. CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

nun: SHINGLE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT ABRAHAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city, county, and, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Unit Shingles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved reversible unit shingle made of prepared roofing consisting of felt or fibrous material saturated and coated with bituminous compositions, and generally faced on one side with granules of mineral matter.

The invention broadly stated consists in the provisions of a.reversible oblong unit shingle having one of its end portions of reduced width and having a pair of hooks indented in op osite parts of each of the lateral margina edges of its other end portion.

The units are so constructed that when laid with the wider ends downward, each will interlock with the laterally adjacent units of both the next upper and lower courses in the manner described in my application Serial No. 476,476, filed May 6, 1921, and when laid with the narrow ends downward, they will be self-spacing with relation to the laterally adjacent units of the same row or course as well as with successive courses. 7

An important feature of the invention is the fact that the innermost pair of hooks function also as gauges for aligning the units, in proper relation to the roof edges, when the end ortions of reduced width are laid downward. j

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention,

Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved reversible unit shingle,

Figure 2 is a plan view of several of the units laid in interlocking relation, and,

Figure 3 is a similar view of the units laid in self-spacing relation.

Referring now to Figure 1, of the drawings, 1 indicates a unit shingle of general oblong shape having a pair of hooks 23 indented in opposite parts of the lateral marginal edges of the lower end portion, as fully described in my patent application Serial No. 476,476, filed May 6, 1921, and having its upper end portion of reduced width to form similar shoulders 4 in each of its sides. The shoulders are spaced downwardly from the upper edge as seen in Fig. 1, the distance that the unit is intended to be exposed when laid in reversed position, that is with the upper end down, as shown in Figure 3.

When the units are laid in interlocking relation, as shown in Figure 2, the hooks 2 and 3 at either side will engage with corresponding hooks of the laterally adjacent units of the next upper and lower rows, thereby forming a roof covering having rectangular shaped exposed portions arranged in horizontally staggered order, and in which the several units are interlocked.

As hereinbefore pointed out, the units may also be laid in the reverse position of that shown in Fig. 1. When the units are thus laid side by side in a row to form a course, the shoulders will automatically space the butt ends of the contiguous, shingles, and at the same time define the proper overlap of successive courses. The units of the succeedin course are then laid so that their butt ends come into horizontal alignment with the shoulders of the units of the lower course, and with the middles of the upper units substantially in vertical alignment with the upper ends of the slots that separate the butts of the units of the lower course. In this manner a roof is formed in which the butts of the shingles of each course are separated exactly the proper distance and in which the exposed portions of the shingles are also automatically provided as seen in Figure 3.

The parts of the unit are preferably so constructed that the points of the hooks 2 will constitute gauges for aligning the units, so that their edges when laid will always be in parallel" relation with the correspondlng edges of the roof. When the units of substantially the proportions shown are lald as indicated in Figure 3, that is, so that the points of the two hooks 2 of each unit will fall in line with the top edge of the units of an immediately underlying course, at the same time the butts of the units of the overlying course fall into alignment with the shoulders of those of the underlylng course, then these three guide points will insure parallelism of the shingle edges all over the roof without the extra labor of providing chalk lines as guides.

From the foregoing description it Wlll be understood that this improvement provides reversible unit shingles that may be laid in either of two ways to produce an attractive and efficient roof covering. This is advantageous and economical for the dealer in that it ermits him to offer his customers alternative types of roofs from but a single supply of shingle units.

What I claim is:

1. Prepared roofing shingles adapted to be laid in alternative positions in overlapping courses to form a roof, each unit comprising a substantially oblong shaped body having a pair of hooks indented in opposite parts of each of the sides of one of its end portions, which hooks when the units are laid in one position, are adapted to interlock with corresponding hooks of the laterally adjacent units of the next lower and upper courses respectively, and having its other end portion reduced in width to form a shoulder in opposite parts of each of the sides at substantially the distance from the narrower end that the unit is intended to be exposed when laid in reversed position.

having a pair of hooks indented in oppositeparts of each of the sides of one of its end portions, which hooks when the units are laid in one position, are adapted to interlock with coresponding hooks of the laterally adjacent units of the next lower and upper courses respectively, and having its other end portion reduced in width to form a shoulder in opposite parts of each of the sides at substantially the distance from the narrower end that the unit is intended to be exposed when laid in reversed position, the points of the hooks furtherest remote from the wider end being so disposed with relation to the narrower end as to serve as gauges in laying the units in said reversed position in parallel relation with adjacent units.

HERBERT ABRAHAM. 

